The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals will return to the AO Arena in Manchester early next year, with free tickets.
The huge event will be hosted by local comedian Jason Manford, and will bring together jaw-dropping performances from the biggest West End and touring musicals.
Audiences will be treated to hits from shows including Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, A Chorus Line, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, GREASE, Hadestown, and Guys & Dolls.
The massive glittering event will take place on Monday 22 January, to be aired on BBC One, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds at a later date.
And tickets for The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals are completely free – all you need to do is be a National Lottery player.
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The 12,000 free tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis from 1pm today, Thursday 30 November, at bignightofmusicals.com.
The event has been created to thank National Lottery players, who in the past year have helped support over 750 theatre-related projects across the UK.
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Jason Manford will be joined by special guest, West End legend and singing sensation, Beverley Knight, who has starred in theatre shows including The Bodyguard, Cats, Memphis, Sylvia, and Sister Act.
Moulin Rouge will be one of the shows in The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals. Credit: Marc Brenner
The National Lottery has awarded more than £517m to arts projects across the country, with £46m of this going towards theatre related projects.
For The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals, players will be able to reserve up to four tickets for free, plus a £2 booking fee applies per ticket and proof of purchase of a National Lottery product is required.
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Comedian, musical theatre performer and host Jason Manford said: “I’m thrilled to be hosting The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals once again.
“We’ve got another amazing line-up of smash hit shows for the Manchester Arena audience to enjoy. And the best thing about this show is that the tickets are free!
“It’s a thank you from The National Lottery to all the people who have supported the performing arts through these crucial years by playing each week.”
Beverley Knight, who also performed in the 2022 launch of The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals, said: “It’s great to be coming back to be part of this incredible show. The support National Lottery players make to the theatre industry is crucial to the performers and myriad of people – at large and small venues – who help make a night at the theatre so special.
“I can’t wait to see this astonishing line up of talent in Manchester belting out musical classics.”
Fans are preparing to pay tribute to Mani from The Stone Roses ahead of his funeral service
Danny Jones
Stone Roses fans and Greater Manchester locals alike are getting ready to pay their respects to the late, great, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, following his tragic passing last month.
As well as details surrounding his funeral being announced earlier this week, the iconic Manc musician’s cause of death has also finally been revealed.
While Hatton’s service featured a high-profile cortège which started all the way from his hometown of Hyde, past multiple landmarks and ending at the Etihad Stadium, those local to Mani’s family home on the edge of Stockport are also being welcomed to help send him off.
It's the funeral of Mani of the Stone Roses on the 22nd. He lived locally. This poster is asking people to line the route of his funeral cortege to "show that he truly was adored". pic.twitter.com/X0DYHl10Hp
He had been struggling with emphysema for some time; he was declared dead at his home in the suburb of Heaton Moor, and is said to have died peacefully in his sleep.
As you can see from the posters put in various places around the area, residents wishing to pay their own tributes to Mani before his private funeral service at Manchester Cathedral are encouraged to line the long street leading down from St Paul’s and Heaton Moor United Church as he heads towards the city.
Departing Parsonage Road from 10am on Monday, 22 December, before turning right onto Heaton Moor Rd, then Wellington and eventually on to the Cathedral, you can expect plenty of people to show up.
One of those people will be his former bandmate and another influential guitarist, John Squire, who is one of many famous musical names to have honoured him in their own way over the last few weeks.
Other members of The Stone Roses, as well as Primal Scream (who he joined in 1996), are expected to join the close family and friends at the service itself.
Nevertheless, we have no doubt that plenty will be observing the funeral in their own way.
So, for those of you also looking to honour him, you know what to do; and to quote the poster itself, “together we can show this local legend and his family that he was truly adored.”
Boyzone to reunite for exclusive New Year’s Eve special on the BBC
Danny Jones
2025 has very much been the year of the comeback – be it Oasis, Britpop fashion in general, or short bobs and pixie cuts – so it’s only fitting that we round off the calendar with one last reunion, as throwback boyband Boyzone are set to feature on a TV special on the BBC this New Year’s Eve.
Turns out ‘All That I Need’ to make a year memorable is a load of 1990s nostalgia.
Now, obviously, despite plenty of other music names enjoying a second renaissance over the past 12 months or so, nothing is ever going to be quite as big as the Oasis Live ’25 reunion tour.
However, if you asked us to guess which group from the era were also going to reunite this year back in January, there’s not a chance we would’ve said Boyzone.
Boyzone are telling us about coming back together for one final run in their most unforgettable concerts yet 🎤
After news first began circulating earlier this week, it has now been confirmed that musician turned presenter Ronan Keating will be getting back together with two of his former bandmates.
Joining the 48-year-old for ‘Ronan & Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party’, ex-Boyzone members Keith Duffy and Shane Lynch are part of an exciting live music lineup.
Other names include actor and singer, Shona McGarty, who recently starred on season 25 of I’m A Celeb, as well as fellow 90s pop artist Louise Redknapp and singer-songwriter Calum Scott.
The exclusive reunion comes after the success of the recently aired Boyzone: No Matter What documentary show.
Spread across three parts on Sky, the docuseries (named after their hit song from 1998) looks back on the career and journey up the charts back in their heyday, all the way up to the present. After seemingly striking a chord with fans and the lads themselves, it looks like they’re not done after all…
Yes, not only is the festive TV special going to see three of the original members performing alongside each other again, but
Here’s hoping that turns into a springboard for something even bigger, and we get a Manchester arena show sometime soon.
As for the programme itself, ‘Ronan & Friends: A New Year’s Eve Party’ will be broadcast on BBC One and made available on BBC iPlayer from Wednesday, 31 December 2025.
Daisy Jackson -
30th November 2023 
